I was talking with a friend the other day whose mother had passed, and he spent a month cleaning out her house. So I asked the inevitable question: “Does that motivate you to clean out your house?” Answer, “Yes, but I haven’t started yet!” Same with me, we have all this stuff, and we owe it to our kids to get rid of as much as possible before they have to.

Unfortunately, we don’t always live as if we believe Jesus when he says, “One’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12.15)

Mike Metzger wrote about this phenomenon a few weeks ago in “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.” It’s a short article worth the read in its entirety. The main idea is that we live in an age of discontent. He quotes C.S. Lewis as saying,

[We live as if] the attainment of goods we have never yet had, rather than the conservation of those we have already, is the cardinal business of life.

We miss Paul’s clear teaching to the church at Philippi and to Timothy:

I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. (Philippians 4.11, ESV)

But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. (1 Timothy 6.6 – 8, ESV)

And there’s a cost to the discontent that compels us to buy what we don’t need. Mike explains:

Contentment means to be satisfied or pleased with what we have already. That’s rare today. Advertisers define “a living” as making as much as we can so that we spend as much as we can on new stuff that we feel will make us content. It fosters cravings for what we don’t have, driving us to buy what we feel will be satisfying, but leaving little leftover for giving.

Doubt it? In 2022, Americans gave just 1.7 percent of their disposable income to charity, the lowest share since 1995, according to a new Giving USA report. The reasons vary: economic uncertainty, inflation, and so on. But the underlying driver could well be the discontent that causes people to spend too much. As one pastor used to say, “Stewardship decisions are not made in church; they’re made in the real estate office and on the showroom floor.”

I would add, there are even more places to spend money. Stay tuned.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6.19 – 21, NKJV)